Men's Water Polo

Anteaters Sour Senior Day, Hand UCSB 9-7 Loss

Nov 14, 2009

Nov. 14, 2009

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -
No. 10 UC Santa Barbara suffered a 9-7 loss to No. 7 UC Irvine on Saturday afternoon in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contest at Campus Pool. The game marked the last home contest of the season for the Gauchos.

With the loss, UCSB falls to 12-12 on the season and 1-5 in conference play while UC Irvine improves to 15-9 and 3-3 in league.

Most of the game was a seesaw battle with the teams being tied on five occasions. Irvine got on the scoreboard first when Cole Bielskis scored following the first ejection of the game with 4:07 on the clock. During the next possession, UCSB notched its first goal: another power play point scored by Milos Golic.

UCSB then took its first lead of the game at the 2:46 on the clock when Zsombor Vincze scored during another Gaucho six-on-five. Less than a minute later, Bielskis knotted things up at two-all.

UCI took a 3-2 lead less than three minutes into the second quarter on a power play goal by Brandon Johnson, but less than a minute later, the game was again tied when Noah Smith scored on a six-on-five. The Gauchos took a 4-3 lead at the 4:05 mark after Brian Shoemaker drew a five-meter penalty and Golic converted the free shot.

In the last two minutes of the half, Johnson and Harvey Newland posted back-to-back goals to give Irvine the 5-4 advantage at halftime.

The third quarter was a battle of the team's defenses and the first goal wasn't scored until the 2:22 mark, when Vincze tied the game at 5-5. On the next possession, Irvine drew a five-meter penalty and Mihailo Jevtovic scored on the free shot to give the Anteaters a one-goal advantage heading into the final quarter.

Greg Enloe and Kyle Kruip scored back-to-back goals in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, giving Irvine its largest lead of the game at 8-5. With 3:37 on the clock, Brian Shoemaker put the Gauchos back within two goals and at the 1:06 mark, Vincze scored to cut the Irvine lead to just one goal.

Unfortunately, Irvine was able to tally one more goal in the last minute to finish the game with the 9-7 win.

Vincze led UCSB with three goals in the loss, marking his fourth hat trick of the season. In goal, Fraser Bunn posted eight saves.

UCSB will head to No. 4 UCLA on Sunday for a 1 p.m. contest with the Bruins at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

UCSB Athletics is proud to introduce GKids - its new official kids club! GKids members will receive a free GKids t-shirt, free admittance to tons of Gaucho games, opportunities to be ball boys and girls at games, a special birthday greeting from Olie (the new GKids mascot) and much, much more! For more information on GKids, or to become a member, please click here.